Lady Vols basketball is set to travel to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama in a top-25 clash on Sunday afternoon. When No. 20 Tennessee meets the No. 21 Tide, it’ll have two players back from injury, as well. Both Talaysia Cooper and Kaniya Boyd are not listed on the availability report and are considered active.
This comes after Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell updated the status of the duo on Friday. She said that both have been practicing with the team and seemed optimistic about their availability for Sunday.
Cooper is recovering from a head injury that she suffered during shootaround before the win over Arkansas last Sunday. She was struck in the head with a ball, according to Caldwell. Boyd is dealing with a high-ankle sprain. Neither played against the Razorbacks.
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Cooper is averaging 14.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.4 steals and 0.5 blocks per game heading into Sunday. She is considered a potential first-round WNBA draft pick, and her play to start the SEC slate has helped boost her stock.
Boyd is averaging 2.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game this year. While her counting stats don’t jump off the page, she’s proven to be one of the better defenders on the team and has benefited from playing in Caldwell’s press.
She has also knocked down some timely threes this year. She is shooting 40.6% from the field and 31.6% from range in her redshirt-sophomore season.
Tip-off between Tennessee and Alabama is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will air on SEC Network. For the Tide, they will be without Reychel Douglas, and Essence Cody is questionable.
